Gary Newman chairs Morgan Sindall’s Regenerative Twin workshop on the Nature Stage in London on 15 May
During day two of the international Footprint+ conference, held on 14-15 May 2024 at Old Billingsgate, London, our own Gary Newman was asked to jump in and chair the Regenerative Twin workshop, which was hosted on the Nature Stage and sponsored by Morgan Sindall Construction.
“There’s a real sense that the need to focus on radical interventions in the built environment to shift from high to low carbon materials and methods is a priority. There’s a genuine desire to shift among big players which is exciting.” Gary Newman, CEO, Woodknowledge Wales
Regenerative Twin project leverages early collaboration for cost-effective Whole Life Carbon reduction
The Morgan Sindall Construction team collaborated with leading businesses across the built environment sector on a groundbreaking digital twinning project, Circular Twin, aimed at transforming design, procurement, and construction practices to deliver low carbon buildings and address the climate emergency.
Circular Twin involved digitally reconstructing an existing school and reworking its design from scratch to prioritise lower carbon outcomes. This innovative project experimented with new working methods, forming an early alliance of experts to reduce the building’s Whole Life Carbon.
The project responded to the climate emergency declared by over 300 UK councils and implemented strategies from the Construction Playbook and UKGBC guidance. It demonstrated how early collaboration among designers, clients, contractors, and the supply chain can significantly reduce Whole Life Carbon with only a modest increase in capital costs. Morgan Sindall Construction led the team, including procurement specialist SCAPE, architects HLM and Lungfish, and engineering consultancy along with procurement specialist architects HLM and Lungfish and the multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Cundall, to pool their expertise in sustainable design and construction.
SCAPE, as the client, challenged the team to prioritise carbon reduction over cost in their decision-making process. This shift in focus allowed the team to redefine value beyond traditional cost metrics, leading to long-term operational savings. Compared to the original 2017 school, Circular Twin achieved:
- 67% reduction in Whole Life Carbon
- 72% reduction in upfront embodied carbon (48% lifecycle reduction)
- 52% reduction in annual energy consumption
- 39% reduction in forest consumption for products and 30-year UK offset
Circular Twin broke conventional procurement practices, proving the substantial benefits of innovative collaboration and providing a credible template for a new approach to sustainable construction.
Hear more about the Regenerative Twin project
Tim Clement will be speaking on the Circular Twin at a workshop at during Day 1 of the upcoming WoodBUILD 2024 conference, to be held in Swansea on 2-3 July 2024:
From circular towards regenerative construction: Morgan Sindall’s Regenerative Twin project set out to drive change across the construction supply chain from a major contractor’s position. By bringing together a team from a broad range of disciplines within the supply chain the project explored the use and complexities of regenerative materials and their impact on carbon, biodiversity, social justice and capex. This workshop elevates learnings from the project and looks at how we can work towards regenerative construction through our own projects and collaborations.
